Man gets probation in sex assault on Hardwick boy, 7

A Granby man charged with aggravated rape of a child and several other counts will spend three years on probation after reaching a plea agreement in Western Worcester District Court last week.

Nicholas Pierce-Eaton, 23, of 14 Green Meadow Road, Granby, was charged by Hardwick police a year ago with disseminating obscene matter to a minor and two counts of indecent assault and battery on a child less than 14 years old after he allegedly sexually assaulted a 7-year-old boy he was watching.

Police in their report said Mr. Pierce-Eaton offered to watch the boy when the child’s guardian had to briefly leave their home in the Gilbertville section of Hardwick. The boy later told his mother, with whom he had not been staying, that he had seen pornographic images and had been touched and hurt by Mr. Pierce-Eaton.

West Brookfield Police also charged him with two counts of indecent assault and battery on a child younger than 14 years old, and statutory rape of a child after the boy told his mother he’d been touched by and forced to touch Mr. Pierce-Eaton at a campground in that town.

As part of the agreement, the rape charge and the statutory rape charge were each reduced to indecent assault and battery on a child younger than 14 years old.

In addition to probation, Mr. Pierce-Eaton must undergo sex offender counseling, register as a sex offender and refrain from having unsupervised contact with anyone under age18. He must also submit a DNA sample.

In a statement to the court, the victim’s mother wrote that what had happened to her son was “the most disgusting and horrible thing that could happen to any human being, especially a child.

“Obviously the defendant is either sick or evil and either way not only needs help but also needs appropriate punishment,” she wrote, adding that she feared Mr. Pierce-Eaton’s “clean record” would prevent him from being harshly punished.